Infant&#39;s feeding spoon



June 28, 1960 E. R. WARREN ETAL INFANTS FEEDING SPOON Filed Nov. 4, 1957 INVENTORS EDITH R. WARREN BY OWEN s. WARREN TTORNEY United States Patent 2,942,342 INFANTS FEEDING SPOON Edith R. Warren and Owen S. Warren, P.O. Box 107,

Polson, Mont.

Filed Nov. 4, 1957, Ser. No. 694,255

2 Claims. (Cl. 30-327) The present invention relates to an infants feeding spoon, especially adapted for use when training small children to eat.

Previously the problems involved in teaching small children to feed themselves have been recognized, and various types of training spoons have been designed and sold.

It is an object of the present invention to present an improved type of infants feeding spoon of different structure than those heretofore used. In presenting this different type of feeding spoon, it is a further object of this invention to provide a spoon which infants can more readily and easily use.

Other objects and advantages of the present invention will be apparent from the appended description and drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a top plan view showing features of an embodiment of this invention,

Fig. 2 isfa perspective view showing construction of the spoon as viewed from an angle of approximately 45 spoon handle is disposed at an angle with respect to the center line of the bowl both horizontally and vertically, and the spoon handle is bent back under theshank to provide a convenient gripping and automatic positioning feature.

The detailed features and construction of an embodiment of this invention are shown in the accompanying drawings, in which it will be noted that the infants feeding spoon 11 comprises a conventionally designed bowl 12, the food-holding depression of which is formed by a bottom 13 and a lip 14. As in'the usual construction, the upper portion or lip 1'4 of bowl 12 is disposed along a plane, and the bowl itself is symmetrical about a longitudinal axis passing through the tip 16 and through the fillet portion 17 connecting the bowl 12 to the shank 18.

As shown in Fig. l, the shank 18 is disposed at an angle greater than 90 degrees with respect to the longitudinal axis of the bowl 12. This angle, which in the,

present embodiment is approximately 97.5 degrees, has been found to be advantageous, inasmuch as it is desirable to keep the infants hand away from the bowl a suflicient distance to allow adequate clearance between the hand and the face when the spoon is raised'to feeding position.

As shown in Fig. 3, the shank is likewise disposed at an angle greater than 90 degrees with respect to a ver- 'ice tical axis through the bowl 12 normal to the plane of the lip 14. In this embodiment, this angle is likewise approximately 97.5 degrees. Here again this angular disposition is provided in order to prevent interference be tween the childs hand and face.

In order to provide a more adequate gripping member, the handle portion 19 of the spoon 11 is bent backwardly underneath the shank 18 to provide a loop 21 of suflicient size to provide clearance for an infants fingers between the shank 18 and the handle 19. Further, the end 22 of the handle 19 is bent upwardly toward the shank 18, so that the infants fingers will be restrained by the end 22, the loop 21, the handle 19 and the shank 18. With restraint on all sides, any tendency of the spoon to tip or tilt as it is being raised to the mouth is minimized.

As a further detail of construction, it should be noted that the handle 19 is bent backwardly toward the bowl 12 of the spoon 11 in such manner that the bottom 13 of the bowl 12 is substantially in the same plane as the bottom surface of the handle 19 when the plane of the lip 14 is horizontally disposed. This makes it possible to set the spoon down on a flat surface, such as a table, without spilling the contents of the bowl.

While the angularity between the shank and the bowl has been shown and described as approximately 97.5 degrees, it is obvious that the angle may be decreased slightly or substantially increased without departing from the scope of this invention. With slight changes in design, angles of from 93 degrees to ,120degrees might be used in conjunction with the other structural features of this invention.

The foregoing and additional features of the present invention are all deemed to be part of this invention insofar as such features are defined in the hereunto appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. An infants feeding spoon comprising a bowl inclusive of a bottom and a lip member, a shank joined to said bowl and extending upwardly and outwardly past the confines of said bowl at an obtuse angle with respect to vertical and horizontal axes respectively of said bowl, a handle on said shank looped under the shank and directed backwardly toward and coplanar with the bottom of said bowl, saidhandle being spaced from said shank a distance corresponding to the size of an infants obtuse angle between the shank and vertical and horizontal axes of said bowl is approximately ninety-seven and one-half degrees.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS D. 43,208 Stuver Oct. 29, 1912 438,379 Levinger Oct. 14, 1890 1,133,026 Heidelberg Mar. 23, 1915 1,273,642 Margetts July 23, 1918 1,625,003 Walker Apr. 19, 1927 2,724,894 La Tour Nov. 29, 1955 

